The present invention pertains generally to pallets and particularly to legs for supporting one or more pallet decks.
Pallets are commonly used for movement of goods within a warehouse or storage area, to or from a shipping point or in transshipment. A pallet typically has a generally planar top surface or support deck supported above the ground by, for example, a plurality of pallet legs. A second generally planar surface or deck may be disposed in spaced relation to the support deck. Goods to be transported are stacked or arranged on the support deck.
The legs of a pallet maintain the support deck sufficiently above the ground (or from the second deck, when present) to allow a forklift to engage the pallet under the support deck. Other means of similarly lifting the pallet are well known.
Prior pallet support legs include those disclosed by Wies, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,099 which includes a riser portion having circumferentially disposed flanges disposed between a first and a second end of the riser portion proximate the first end. A plurality of tabs extend from the first end approximately parallel to the flanges. The pallet deck disclosed by Wies, et al. includes an opening for inserting each riser portion. Each opening is generally circular and includes radially extending side openings corresponding to the configuration of the tabs.
In use, the first end of the Wies, et al. riser is inserted through the deck opening with the tabs being inserted through the side openings until the flanges are adjacent one side of the pallet deck. The leg is then rotated relative to the pallet deck until the deck is disposed between and adjacent the tabs and the flanges. The distance between the tabs and flanges is approximately equal to the thickness of the pallet deck. Thus, each nominal pallet deck thickness requires a different pallet leg having a relatively greater or lesser spacing between the tabs and the flanges. Also, such legs cannot accommodate significant variations in nominal thickness within a given pallet deck or from deck to deck.